President Obama’s hostile and aggressive, perhaps even murderous, pursuit of Julian Assange has helped create a “hostile environment” globally toward all who would expose government corruption and violate Human Rights that are deemed ‘friendly ‘ by the USG. The Obama administration has become an enabler of ‘friendly regimes’ that brutally crush their citizens who are evolving internet media tools for ‘free expression’ and documentation of Human Rights abuses they are subject to. Phlipn out.

Seven online activists arrested in United Arab Emirates
Bill Law – BBC – 18 December, 2012

The Emirates Centre for Human Rights said three UAE nationals were detained in Saudi Arabia on Monday and then handed over to the UAE authorities.

It came days after four other activists were arrested in connection with a Twitter account that is critical of the government, the UK-based group added.

Last month, the UAE government tightened the law on internet use.

It became a criminal offence to deride or damage the state or its institutions, or to organise unauthorised demonstrations.

Human rights groups have said the legislation places severe restrictions on the rights to free expression and free association and assembly.

‘Most-wanted activist’

The first four online activists were arrested last week, according to the Emirates Centre for Human Rights.

The authorities were said to be looking for a critic of the government who appears to have received leaked documents from the interior ministry. The activist has a Twitter account, @weldbudhabi, with more than 11,000 followers.
Screengrab of @weldbudhabi Twitter account The Twitter account @weldbudhabi is critical of the government and has more than 11,000 followers

“He is the most wanted cyber activist in the UAE,” a human rights campaigner told the BBC. “I told him it would be wise to stay quiet.”

The activist’s Twitter account was reportedly hacked by the authorities on Friday – the day Saeed Majed Alshaer al-Shamsi was arrested.

The authorities apparently believed Mr Shamshi was behind @weldbudhabi. But the real owner of the account subsequently used Twitter to say they had detained the wrong person.

The three others arrested were believed to have messaged the Twitter account on the Thursday and Friday.

The activist behind @weldbudhabi had been identifying plainclothes officers who work for the interior ministry’s security agency.

“He’s really been getting under their skin, really annoying them,” the human rights campaigner told the BBC.

On Tuesday, activists reported that three Emiratis who had been on religious pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia had been detained on Monday night and turned over to the UAE authorities. They are said to have expressed their support on Twitter for jailed activists.

These latest arrests follow the detention of the 18-year-old blogger, Mohammed Salem al-Zumer, earlier this month.

Mr Zumer is the son of a poet and the nephew of Khaled al-Sheiba al-Nuami, who was detained earlier this year along with more than 60 other civil society activists, some with ties to Islah – a local group that advocates greater adherence to Islamic precepts.

Government and police officials have said the crackdown is a response to a foreign-inspired Islamist plot that aims to overthrow the government.

But the Emirates Centre for Human Rights said at least three of those held in recent days were liberals or secularists and had no links with Islah. …source

Police move in for taser assault on Protester in Bahrain Market

Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafdha tweets picture of wounded protester

Bahrain: Arrest and detention of human rights defender Mr Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafdha
18 December, 2012 – Front Line Defenders

On 18 December 2012, the Public Prosecution Office ordered human rights defender Mr Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafdha to be detained for a period of seven days following his arrest the previous day after attendeding a protest in Manama.

Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafdha is the acting vice-president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), one of the three short-listed nominees for the 2012 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.

On 17 December 2012, Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafdha was arrested in Manama on charges of spreading false information over Twitter. Prior to the arrest he was monitoring and documenting a protest in Manama as it unfolded. The following day, the Public Prosecution Office ordered his detention for seven days pending an investigation. He is currently being held in Hooth Al-Jaff prison in the Governorate of Muharraq.

The arrest took place on the eve of a visit to Bahrain by a delegation of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) with a focus on human rights issues. Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafdha previously attended a round table on the human rights situation in Bahrain at the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels on 4 December 2012. The MEP who hosted the round table was not granted a visa to be part of the EP delegation.

This is the second time the human rights defender has been arrested in the last two months. On 2 November 2012 in the village of Diraz, he was arrested on charges of rioting and participating in an illegal gathering. These charges related to a protest that took place in the village that day and which the human rights defender denied having participated in. He was released without charge on 14 November 2012.

Front Line Defenders is concerned by the arrest and detention of Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafdha and believes these measures are solely motivated by his peaceful advocacy in defence of human rights in Bahrain. Front Line Defenders has previously issued urgent appeals and updates on his situation on a number of occasions including on 5 November 2012 and 15 November 2012. …source

Russia sends warships to Syria for possible evacuation
18 December, – By Erika Solomon – Reuters – The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Russia sent warships to the Mediterranean to prepare a potential evacuation of its citizens from Syria, a Russian news agency said on Tuesday, a sign President Bashar al-Assad’s key ally is worried about rebel advances that now threaten even the capital.

Moscow acted a day after insurgents waging a 21-month-old uprising obtained a possible springboard for a thrust into Damascus by seizing the Yarmouk Palestinian camp just 2 miles from the heart of the city, activists said.

The anti-Assad opposition has posted significant military and diplomatic gains in recent weeks, capturing a series of army installations across Syria and securing formal recognition from Western and Arab states for its new coalition.

Assad’s pivotal allies have largely stood behind him. But Russia, his main arms supplier, appeared to waver this week with contradictory statements repeating opposition to Assad stepping down and airing concerns about a possible rebel victory.

Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted unnamed naval sources on Tuesday as saying that two assault ships, a tanker and an escort vessel had left a Baltic port for the Mediterranean Sea, where Russia has a port in Syria’s coastal city of Tartus.

“They are heading to the Syrian coast to assist in a possible evacuation of Russian citizens … Preparations for the deployment were carried out in a hurry and were heavily classified,” the Russian agency quoted the source as saying.

It was not possible to independently verify the report, which came a day after Russia confirmed that two citizens working in Syria were kidnapped along with an Italian citizen.

In Damascus, activists reported overnight explosions and early morning sniper fire around the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk. The Yarmouk and Palestine refugee “camps” are actually densely populated urban districts home to thousands of impoverished Palestinian refugees and Syrians.

“The rebels control the camp but army forces are gathering in the Palestine camp and snipers can fire in on the southern parts of Yarmouk,” rebel spokesman Abu Nidal said by Skype.

“Strategically, this site is very important because it is one of the best doors into central Damascus. The regime normally does not fight to regain areas captured any more because its forces have been drained. But I think they could see Yarmouk as a red line and fight back fiercely.”

Syria hosts half a million Palestinian refugees, most living in Yarmouk, descendants of those admitted after the creation of Israel in 1948, and has always cast itself as a champion of the Palestinian struggle, sponsoring several guerrilla factions. …source

HM the King’s Initiative to Set up an Arab Court for Human Rights Discussed
18 December, 2012 – Bahrain News Agency

Manama, Dec. 18. (BNA) – His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s initiative to establish an Arab Court for Human Rights, in order to consolidate human rights protection and keep abreast of the latest international developments in this regard, will today top the agenda of the third meeting of senior Arab legal and human rights experts, held at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo under the chairmanship of its Secretary-General Dr. Nabil Al-Arabi.

On the occasion, the Foreign Ministry’s Undersecretary for Regional and GCC Affairs Ambassador Hamad Ahmed Abdulaziz Al Amer asserted that HM the King’s initiative stems from a desire to develop the institutional framework of human rights in the region and address the shortcomings that exist in the Arab Charter on Human Rights, adding the court will bring about a quantum leap in the field of human rights protection in the Arab world and prevent foreign sides from using the human rights issue to harm Arab countries.

It is to be noted that the meeting is in line with the resolution issued by Arab League on March 10th, 2012 to set up an Arab Court for Human Rights.

The panel has held a number of meetings and will convene in Bahrain next month to discuss and approve the resolution and then submit their report to the next Arab Summit, to be hosted by Doha by the end of March, 2013. …source